A chain-reaction crash involving multiple vehicles Monday killed a 53-year-old man and seriously injured a University of Massachusetts Boston administrator as the two were walking in the town of Oxford, officials said.
Daniel Sullivan, 53, was pronounced dead at the scene, the fire department said. The other pedestrian, Gina Cappello, 52, of Andover, was in critical condition at UMass Medical Center in Worcester.
Cappello is the vice chancellor for university advancement at the UMass Boston, according to DeWayne Lehman, a university spokesman. Lehman said Monday night that the school community was “very concerned.”
“We are all hoping for the best for Gina, and our thoughts are with the Cappello and Sullivan families,’’ the university said in a statement.
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The crash left debris scattered across a swath of the highway.
Firefighters and police in the town, south of Worcester, responded to the area near Sutton Avenue just after 11 a.m., and found the two pedestrians and four cars involved in the collision, the Oxford Fire Department said in a statement.
A total of nine people were taken to the hospital, the department said.
State Police said a Lexus exiting Interstate 395 onto Sutton Avenue lost control and struck a Toyota Corolla. The Corolla hit the two pedestrians and continued down the road, striking a Nissan Altima and a Nissan Rogue.
The driver of the Lexus, who may have suffered a medical emergency before the crash, and passengers of the Corolla and Rogue were taken to UMass Medical and the driver of the Altima was transported to Hubbard Regional Hospital in Webster. Occupants of the cars sustained injuries that were not life-threatening, State Police said in a statement.
The accident spanned a few blocks starting near Dunkin’ Donuts and ended by a McDonald’s, the fire department said.
Sutton Avenue was closed for about three hours, State Police said.
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Mina Corpuz can be reached at mina.corpuz@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @mlcorpuz.